Fresh Ginger-Lime Tonic

January 29, 2015 —by Lindsay

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Ok ok enough ginger already, you might be saying.

No such thing, I reply.

I’ve talked at length about ginger beers, and even made my own at one point, complete with yeast fermented bubbles. That was true ginger beer. But this is practically a homemade ginger beer, made from fresh ginger juice, lime juice, and tonic water for fizz. Fresh ginger being the key to a bold and spicy mocktail that, if you’re a true ginger lover like me, you’ll simply adore.

Sure, you could add some gin and make a gin-gin & tonic, and I wouldn’t blame you for doing so, as this bold and bubbly beverage would make a perfect base for some booze.

This drink was inspired by a similar concoction at Nashville’s Pinewood Social.

I adore restaurants that have creative mocktails on their menu. Because a lengthy and interesting sounding cocktail menu totally bums me out when my only non-alcoholic options are soda or water, and maybe a ginger beer if I’m lucky. C’mon, restaurants, embrace the need for designated drivers and give us at least a few interesting options.

A word of warning: this drink is not for the faint of heart. You must like spicy ginger to the extreme. If you’re timid or you’ve never had a really strong ginger beer before, I’d suggest you start with that first (and be sure to check out my favorite ginger beers for some recommendations). Then, once you’re sure you can handle it, then you can move on to this.

Let’s just call this one a drink for the true ginger aficionado.

Don’t even think about guzzling it or you might just choke on the spice. This is a drink that needs to be sipped so the spice doesn’t get to be unbearable.

If you have a juicer, you can certainly use it and save yourself some time. However, a juicer is not required for this recipe.

I recommend peeling and freezing your ginger. Not only does it preserve it, but frozen ginger blends up significantly easier than fresh. It’s almost like the ice crystals break up the tough fibers that make fresh ginger hard to work with (the same goes for grating ginger, it’s much easier to do when previously frozen). Why? No idea. All I know is I’m definitely going to be keeping a large stash of fresh ginger in the freezer from here on out.

For ginger juice, simply blend your semi-frozen ginger (I recommend thawing it for 10-15 minutes out of concern for your blender) and then liquefy it with a bit of water. Then strain out the pulp and voila! Ginger juice without a juicer.

This is Taylor’s magic tonic syrup. He heard about it from Alton Brown, who claims that most pre-made tonic sodas are pure crap and that club soda mixed with this artisan tonic syrup is the way to go. Ok, whatever you say dear. We live and die by the Alton Brown gospel in this household, and I’m not one to argue with him.

Can I just say I adore these straws? They are Kate Spade brand (bet you didn’t know Kate Spade my straws, did you?) and made of acrylic, which puts the paper straws to shame. These you can leave in your glass for hours and hours and they won’t get soggy. Not that a glass of this spicy mocktail will last that long, but still. Acrylic is totally the new paper.

Yield:4 servings

Fresh Ginger-Lime Tonic

Ingredients:

2 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and frozen

1/2 cup filtered water

1/4 cup lime juice (from 2-3 limes)

2 (8oz) cans club soda

1 ounce tonic syrup*

Directions:

Combine frozen ginger and water in a blender. Turn on and gradually increase speed to high; blend for 30 to 60 seconds or until no large chunks remain. Pour mixture through a fine mesh seive set over a bowl, pressing out liquid with a spoon or spatula. Rinse out the blender with another few tablespoons of water and pour through seive. Discard solids. You should have just over 1/2 cup of juice.

This looks amazing! I agree, I love the restaurants that are coming out with fancy housemade sodas/shrubs/mocktails. So fun! I honestly never thought to try making this sort of thing at home though…definitely needs to happen!

Yum! I am definitely making this… and trying that tonic. I love ginger and lime and tonic and vodka and grapefruit… Can you tell you’ve hit the spot with this one. I know there’s no grapefruit, but I thought it needed to be mentioned and not left out of the conversation. Thanks for sharing.

Taylor washed them by hand and the stripes are still there. Maybe just don’t put them in the dishwasher or scrub them with anything abrasive? I have a tiny brush straw cleaner that makes cleaning the inside of the straws pretty easy.

Never enough ginger! Right now, I have a fresh hand of ginger on my counter, a stash in the fridge, and a stash in the freezer. I just made chai this morning with it, but now I’m off to make this. Long live mocktails–you’re the best!

This drink is amazing!! My husband made these for us tonight and we LOVED them!! We went a little lighter on the ginger juice than the recipe suggested and even our kids enjoyed them (minus the gin we had in ours!!) It is light, crisp and flavorful – can’t wait to make them again!! Do you know how long the ginger juice will last sealed in an airtight container in the fridge?

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Welcome to Love & Olive Oil, the culinary adventures of Lindsay and Taylor. We're all about food that is approachable but still impressive, unique and creative yet still true to its culinary roots. (More...)